Chapter twenty-two – Halo Lighting System First Strike Games User Manual

Page 204

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CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

TIME:DATE RECORD ANOMALY\Estimated 0640 hours,
September 23,2552 (Military Calendar)\Epsilon Eridani
system, tunnel complex below surface of Reach.

John tensed as he watched the thousands of Covenant crowd-

ing on the galleries surround him and his team. He didn't dare

move; his team was on the wrong end of too much firepower.

They couldn't win this fight.

On the third gallery off the floor of the great room, at the four

o'clock position, a Hunter pair roared with anger. They raised

their fuel rod cannons and then leveled their weapons—and

fired.

Kelly moved before anyone; she was a blur of motion and

stepped in front of Dr. Halsey. John and Fred moved to either

side of Kelly, while Anton grabbed the Admiral and threw the

older man behind them.

The blinding white-hot plasma charges struck the Spartans'

shields and splashed over their chests.

John's shield drained completely. The overpressure forced him

to take a step backward, and the skin on his forearms blistered.

Then the heat was gone, and he blinked away the black dots

that swarmed in his vision. Kelly lay at his feet. Her armor smol-

dered and hydrostatic gel boiled from the emergency release

vent along her left side.

A thousand more shots rang out from the gallery, and John in-

stinctively crouched to cover his fallen comrade. He braced for

the inevitable burning energy impact.

Plasma bolts and crystalline needles crisscrossed the galleries

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